Iran muscles into the UAV battlefield

Iranian made long range drone "Karar" missile is displayed during annual military parade on September 22,2010 in Tehran,Iran that mark the beginning of the 1980-1988 war between Iran and Iraq. UPI/Maryam Rahmanian | License Photo

This picture released on August, 22, 2010 by the Iranian Defense Ministry, shows Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (R) and Armed force chief Hasan Firouzabadi during the unveiled ceremony of Iran's new unmanned bomber aircraft, Karar, a the National Defense Industry ceremony in Iran on August 22, 2010. UPI/STR | License Photo

This picture released on August, 22, 2010 by the Iranian Defense Ministry shows the launch of Iran's new unmanned bomber aircraft, Karar, in Iran on August 22, 2010. UPI/STR | License Photo

This picture released on August, 22, 2010 by the Iranian Defense Ministry shows the Iran's new unmanned bomber aircraft, Karar, in Iran on August 22, 2010. UPI/STR | License Photo

An American Dynamics Flight Systems ad-150 drone is seen during the Association of Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) Day on Capitol Hill, as a part of National Robotics Week, in Washington on April 15, 2010. UPI/Kevin Dietsch | License Photo

Israeli Air Force soldiers look at an Israeli made unmanned aerial vehicle, the Heron TP, during the drone's induction ceremony into the Israeli Air Force at the Tel Nof Air Force Base, February 21, 2010. The large drone is built by the Israel Aerospace Industries, IAI, and is capable of flying to Iran. It has a wingspan of 86 feet, the size of a passenger jet and can fly 20 consecutive hours. The drone is primarily used for surveillance and carrying payloads. UPI/Debbie Hill | License Photo

An Israeli made unmanned aerial vehicle, the Heron TP, is displayed at it's induction ceremony into the Israeli Air Force at the Tel Nof Air Force Base, February 21, 2010. The large drone is built by the Israel Aerospace Industries, IAI, and is capable of flying to Iran. It has a wingspan of 86 feet, the size of a passenger jet and can fly 20 consecutive hours. The drone is primarily used for surveillance and carrying payloads. UPI/Debbie Hill | License Photo

An Israeli soldier holds a surveillance drone during an operation against Hamas militants January 7, 2009 in the Gaza Strip. Israel is intensifying its wide-scale ground assault in Gaza in an effort to put an end to Hamas rocket attacks against the Jewish State. (UPI Photo/Ron Ben Ishai/Yedioth Ahronoth/Pool) | License Photo

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev (2nd R) and Belorussian President Alexander Lukashenko (3rd R) examine a Belarusian made drone at Belarusian 61th Air Base during the final stage of Zapad-2009 (West 2009) Russian-Belarus joint military exercises near Brest in western Belarus on September 29, 2009. UPI/Anatoli Zhdanov | License Photo

This handout photo released on January 11, 2007 by the Hamas media office shows a masked Palestinian member of the Al-Qassam brigade, the military wing of Hamas Movement, holding an Israeli spying drone, which Hamas said Israel dropped in the Gaza strip on January 11, 2007. (UPI Photo/Hamas Media Office) | License Photo

TEL AVIV, Israel, Oct. 5 (UPI) -- The United States and Israel lead the field in developing unmanned aerial vehicles, including missile-armed drones used extensively against their enemies in an evolving form of remote-control warfare.

But their common foe, Iran, is in the race, too, and that has serious implications for the military balance in the Middle East.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad unveiled a long-range, bomb-carrying drone called the Karar, Farsi for "assailant," in August that reputedly has a range of 600 miles and can carry a military payload of 450 pounds.

That's not enough for the jet-powered UAV to reach Israel -- but it could if it was launched from Lebanon or Syria by Iran's allies.

With the Levant simmering amid rising tension over Iran, Iraq and the Middle East peace process, the Iranian drive to develop long-range UAVs is causing concern in Israel and pro-Western Arab states such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

Hezbollah of Lebanon, Iran's main proxy in the Arab world, allegedly has as many as 45,000 rockets and missiles provided by Iran and its ally Syria and since 2004 has operated the Iranian-built Mirsad-1 UAV.

This has been used to carry out aerial reconnaissance over Israel, much to the annoyance of the Jewish state's military. Mirsad is an early generation, relatively unsophisticated system with little endurance capability and doesn't, as far as is known, carry weapons.

But the more advanced versions of the Karar, which Iran presumably has in the works, would be a very different story.

It could, conceivably, be upgraded to perform the kind of deadly remote-control attacks that the U.S. MQ-1 Predator or its successor, the MQ-9 Reaper, are conducting in Afghanistan and Pakistan against al-Qaida and the Taliban.

Global security analyst Paul Rogers, professor of peace studies at Britain's Bradford University, noted recently that the current phase of developing these craft as instruments of war is to apply the stealth and weapons technologies developed for the Lockheed F-117A Nighthawk and the Northrop Grumman B-2 bombers.

By giving UAVs radar-evading capabilities, these craft could fly over Iran or other hostile states "with impunity, and with minimal fear of interception," Rogers observed.

The Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is planning a new generation of fast and heavily armed UAVs.

"A current project is to adapt the Fairchild A-10 -- among the world's most powerful close-air support planes -- for autonomous operations," Rogers wrote.

The A-10, known as the "Warthog" because of its seemingly ungainly lines, carries a fearsome array of weapons that include a 30mm cannon, laser-guided rockets, AGM-56E Maverick air-to-ground missiles and GPS-guided bombs.

The next-generation UAV platform would thus combine "the intense firepower and high subsonic speed of the A-10 with an endurance of up to 18 hours," Rogers noted.

The Israelis, considered to be the second-ranking UAV producer after the United States, is the world's top drone exporter with more than 1,000 sold to 42 countries, says Jacques Chemia, chief engineer at the UAV division of state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries, flagship of Israel's defense industry.

Israel's military employs a wide array of UAVs, including armed craft deployed against Hezbollah and Palestinian Hamas militants.

It is also reported to fly surveillance drones over Iran, presumably to locate targets for threatened pre-emptive strikes against the Islamic Republic's nuclear infrastructure.

Israel reportedly used long-endurance IAI Heron drones to spot Iranian arms consignments bound for Hamas in Gaza across the Red Sea to Sudan in early 2009 -- and to destroy two convoys loaded with weapons in the desert.

With Iran now pushing its growing technological expertise to develop intercontinental ballistic missiles and spy satellites, its efforts to produce long-range UAVs may not be too far off.

"The Karar may well be unarmed and have limited intelligence capabilities," says Rogers, "but its very existence will reverberate …

"If the Iranians have been able to develop a long-range drone, then it is more likely that they will attempt to launch reconnaissance drone sorties against Israeli territory -- at a time of their own choosing.

"The military effect will be minimal but the political impact will be very great … The role of drones in asymmetric warfare -- or even just asymmetric psychological warfare -- may come much sooner than many expect."